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Until Teddy Ruxpin was introduced in 1985, animatronic characters like him were only seen at places like Disneyland and Showbiz Pizza. By using special audio cassettes, Teddy would tell stories while his eyes and mouth moved. A second character, a caterpillar name Grubby, could be connected to help Teddy weave his tales.
How we’d update it: Like the new Furby, a new Teddy Ruxpin could benefit from much more elaborate animation in order to make him seem more alive. Our revamped Teddy can learn kids’ names and their likes and dislikes, among other details, and then incorporate those into stories — sort of like an all-entertainment Siri. Oh, and forget tapes — Teddy 2.0 would have a USB port.
This article was written by Randy Nelson and originally appeared on Tecca.
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